The Subject

The Rev. William Bree became Curate at Great Packington, near Maxstoke Priory, in 1795, in the service of Lord Aylesford its owner, a friend and fellow student and artist. From then to the end of his life date the great series of views by Bree of Maxstoke Priory. Many of these were bound by him into two large volumes, one of which was purchased by the Herbert, but the other of which was beyond our purchasing power, and was split, only a few pieces being re-united by us.

None of this explains how Bree came to be painting Maxstoke Priory in 1786, as evidenced from this view. The answer probably lies in a general interset by the Rev. Bree as a romantically inspired man of the cloth in the relics of Christianity from an earlier age. This work thus naturally then is seen in connection with the view of Whitefriars Friary, Coventry, which we featured earlier.

Maxstoke Priory was founded in 1336 by Sir William de Clinton, afterwards Earl of Huntingdon. It was a Priory of Austin (Augustinian) Canons. Like monks and nuns, these were a religious order whose task was to glorify God. They wore a black cloak and hood over a linen undergarment. They were required to be free-born and to have a good singing voice. At the Reformation the Priory was given by the king to Charles Brandon, duke of Suffolk, who quickly sold it on to a London-based merchant. Stripped of its valuable materials such as the lead from the roof, it remains still a melancholy reminder of the highest and lowest of human intentions.

The Artist

The Reverend William Bree was one of the very best of the early amateur painters. He was born at Allesley near Coventry on 10 Januuary 1754, son of Rev. Thomas Bree and Ann (nee Blencowe). He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and on 7 August 1783 married Elizabeth Mallory. He died on 22 November 1822.

He succeeded his elder brother (and his father before him) as Rector of Allesley in 1808. He is recorded as having been Curate at Great Packington (the private chapel of Lord Aylesford, his college artist-friend) between 1795 and 1799. He was Vicar at Bickenhill 1779-1822.

On 27 April 1808 the Bishop of Peterborough also granted him a licence to absent him from his benefice of Marston St. Lawrence near Brackley, Northants.

Bree shares with Sir George Beaumont the claim to be the greatest of the amateur painters - amateurs in the old sense of the word, achievement for the love of it, not as a trade. Despite his spiritual work he clearly had time to devote to artistic pursuits.

Works by the artist

A work by the Rev. William Bree featured as the first of the series of watercolours of the month. The Herbert holds a collection of 15 views by Bree, and an album of his views of Maxstoke Priory.

The earliest views by him at the Herbert are all executed in grey wash, and the gallery only has works by him in the muted tones of red ochre, yellow ochre and grey (reading as dull blue) from his later years. However the Herbert has a watercolour by Elizabeth Bree his wife which dates back to 1783, and she painted that in muted colours, so it is an unresoved question so far as to which of the artist couple influenced the other. We hope to show her work later in this series.